How to Stay Calm During Labour & Birth.
During my course we always start with a lovely breath, I like to call the calm breath. Why? because it really helps you to feel calmer! It is as simple as that however, lets look into more detail about why breathing through your nostrils can be very helpful between your surges/contractions during your labour.
Nasal breathing helps to make sure the air is taken in more deeply into the lower lobes of the lungs, this is where around 70% of your blood supply is waiting to receive the oxygen and complete the gas exchange. This also happens to be where the receptors to our para-sympathetic nervous system (this is the calming part of our system - what I like to call 'your happy place!' is kept) Practising nasal breathing during your pregnancy and getting ready to use it during labour will direct your breath into the lower lobes of your lungs which in turn will calm you!
Try this exercise:-
Breathe through your nostrils to the count of 4 hold for 1 and exhale down through your nostrils to an extended count of 6-8. Whichever feels most comfortable for you. It might feel a little odd to begin with but stick with it, it gets easier the more your practice. Actually, the more you practice the calmer you will feel on the whole. Its a win win!
Did you know that breathing through your mouth pushes the air into your upper lobes of your lungs? This is where the connections to the stressor receptors and the sympathetic system is located - I refer to this as your 'fight, flight and freeze!' This is not going to be helpful during labour as generally mouth breathing is faster and therefore shorter. This means that the level of oxygen being taken in isn't as high in the blood which will mean your heart will need to pump harder to increase the blood to give you the same amount of oxygen! This will then make your heart rate rise and you will breathe more quickly.
Give it a go and let me know what you think!
You can book onto my hypnobirthing courses here for more indepth techniques and tools to support your labour and birth. Hypnobirthing Courses